How to Set up Add to Calendar on your Email

When you design an email for your event, you can include an 'Add to Calendar' function in the email via the composer. Guests can then save your event to Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar or Yahoo Calendar with a single click.

Screenshot showing what the 'Add to Calendar' button look like in an email.

Event vs. Sessions 'Add to Calendar': This article covers the event 'Add to Calendar', which adds your overall event to your guests' calendars. If you work with zkipster's Sessions feature, there is a separate Sessions 'Add to Calendar' function, configured from the 'Sessions' tab of the Confirm Email, which adds the specific session(s) each guest selected. The two work independently. See Event 'Add to Calendar' vs. Sessions 'Add to Calendar' below for a full comparison.

Turn on 'Add to Calendar'

Open the email builder of your campaign and go to the 'Composer' tab.
Click into the 'Add to Calendar' tab.
Switch the toggle from 'Off' to 'On' to activate it.
Click 'Save Changes'.

GIF showing how to add the 'Add to Calendar' feature to an email.

Edit 'Add to Calendar' Text

You can edit the text displayed above the calendar icons in this section, including the font, size, color and alignment.

Screenshot showing where to customize the style of the text displayed in the ‘Add to Calendar’ section of your email.

However, the calendar entry automatically pulls through the details you entered in your Event Settings: Event Name, Location, Start Date and Start Time. Therefore, to change what appears in your guests' calendars, update your Event Settings rather than the email.

Screenshot showing where to find the 'Event Settings' section.

Important: For hybrid events, the calendar location will always be the physical address and not the virtual event URL. Guests will see the physical venue in the location field of the calendar entry, while the virtual event URL is added to the notes field.

Customize 'Add to Calendar' Icons

The calendar icons display the four most popular calendar tools: Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar and Yahoo Calendar. The icons have been refreshed to their latest versions. While you cannot change the order in which the icons are displayed, you can change:

Color scheme: Color, Black or White
Alignment of the icons
Size of the icons

Screenshot showing where to find the fields in question.

Where Else Guests Can Add Your Event to Their Calendar

Besides the email, the event 'Add to Calendar' option is also available on your response form. Turn it 'On' from the form's Success Page, and it will be displayed on the web page your guests see after they confirm attendance.

Learn more: How to Set up a Form Success Page

Event 'Add to Calendar' vs. Sessions 'Add to Calendar'

zkipster offers two separate 'Add to Calendar' functions. Use the table below to decide which one fits your campaign.

	Event 'Add to Calendar'	Sessions 'Add to Calendar'
What it adds	The overall event as a single calendar entry.	The session(s) the guest selected on the response form.
Where to turn it on	'Add to Calendar' tab in the email builder (and, separately, on the form Success Page).	'Sessions' tab in the Confirm Email builder.
Which messages	All email messages, including the Confirm (auto confirmation) Email.	Confirm Email only.
Data source	Event Settings: Event Name, Location, Start Date and Start Time.	Session details: Session Name, Date & Time and Session Location.
Default state	Off: switch the toggle to On.	On by default once the Sessions tab is enabled.
When it is shown	Always, once enabled.	Only if the guest selected at least one session.
In-Person	Physical address in the location field.	Each session will display only its own location (either physical or virtual).
Virtual	Virtual address in the location field.	Each session will display only its own location (either physical or virtual).
Hybrid	Physical address in the location field & virtual event URL in the notes.	Each session will display only its own location (either physical or virtual).
SMS / WhatsApp	Not available.	Not available.

Avoid duplicate calendar entries: If you use the Sessions 'Add to Calendar' function on your Confirm Email, we recommend turning off the event 'Add to Calendar' on the Confirm Email and on the response form Success Page. Otherwise, guests may save both the overall event and their sessions, ending up with overlapping entries in their calendars.

Learn more about the Sessions function: How to Invite Guests to Sessions

Good to Know

The event 'Add to Calendar' function is available for all email messages, including the Confirm Email (auto confirmation).
'Add to Calendar' cannot be enabled on SMS or WhatsApp messages. This applies to both the event and the Sessions function.
The application used to open the calendar entry depends on the guest’s device and settings. If a device saves the entry in a different calendar from the one clicked, configure the default application used to open .ics files on that device.